I was told there was an accident that happened at one of the bench rest shooting matches recently.

Apparently, a gentleman was shooting a 6PPC chambered rifle, and one of his bullets got stuck in the barrel. He seated his bullets too far our, and it engaged the rifling, and got stuck. He used a cleanign rod without a handle to tap the bullet out.

Apparently, he forgot the cleaning rod in the barrel, and fired his rifle.

As you might imagine, the action did not stand to this sort of treatment, and a piece of metal hit the man just above his eye.

He was bleeding quite a lot, but managed to get up. He was driven to a hospital, where they operated on his skull to remove the metal bits, but unfortunately, he did not make it.

The cleaning rod was recoverd about 60 yards down range, with the bullety jacket still stuck to it.

Our sincere condolences to his family.

I just hope this might be a warning to all of us to stay awake while shooting.

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saeed@ emirates.net.ae

www.accuratereloading.com

Just a few days ago I was resighting a .30-06 rifle that I had dropped on a rock, banging the scope. The results of the blow caused the rifle to shoot 8" to the left and 6" high.

I tried to sight in using Barnes XLC's ( coated ) but moving the windage many clicks wasn't helping. Additionally, I was taking punishment from heavy recoil. And the cases were coming out blackened.

I had loaded according to Barnes recommendation, in the loading slip, included in the box. The bullet holes were scattered.

Suddenly on what was later decided to be the last shot, I couldn't open the bolt. An associate came over and rodded the case with a cleaning rod while I pulled on the bolt. The case was blackened at the neck and also at the back, with the primer missing. It was found laying down in the action.

He asked me - "did you get hurt"?

I put those loads away and switched to different loads with different bullets and finished sighting very quickly with minimum adjustments and less recoil.

Kendall

Our sincere condolences to his family. Thanks for the heads up.

In a reloading class I taught late spring, I learned that the published Cartridge Overall Length (C.O.L.) is NOT always the best number to use when a class participant used his own custom-built firearm and the reloads he created in the class. Naturally, because the round was not acting as expected [very tight engagement of the bolt], I immediately stopped him from using the round until he was able to obtain a more accurate measurement of his machinery.

This scenario might have had the same type of outcome.

Best regards,
Alex